‘Afghan Women’s Rights Must Be Protected in Any Peace Agreement’ – Khalilzad

The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the Afghan women’s role in the peace process, saying their rights must be protected in any peace agreement.

“Afghanistan’s future success is dependent on the full participation of women. Women’s rights must be protected in any peace agreement, and they should be an integral part of intra-Afghan negotiations,” Khalilzad said in a tweet on Saturday.

Referring to last Thursday’s attack on a political gathering in west of Kabul which claimed by Islamic State militant group, Khalilzad said that a peace agreement must guarantee that terrorism should have place in Afghanistan.

“The ISIS-K attack on civilians gathered to commemorate an Afghan leader demonstrates once again, that a comprehensive peace agreement must guarantee that terrorism has no place in Afghanistan’s future,” he said a tweet.

His remarks come as the U.S. and Taliban officials resumed peace talks in Qatar after another 24 hours break. The Talks officially began on February 25 in Doha.

Sources close to the peace negotiation told Ariana News that the meeting is prolonged because the two sides yet to reach into an agreement on foreign troops’ withdrawal and a guarantee that Afghanistan would not be used against other countries.

“Both sides still working on these two issues; they didn’t reach to an agreement,” a Taliban source said.

According to the source, the talks are likely to move to the sixth round.

Sources, meanwhile, said that the second round of the meeting between the Taliban and Afghan politicians which was set for this month, likely to be postponed.